Steven Gerrard: We don't have the same opinion of Alfredo Morelos as people on the outside

Steven Gerrard believes Alfredo Morelos is ready to prove form is temporary while class is permanent as he backed the Colombian to shrug off his goal drought.

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos after missing a chance at Tannadice. Picture: SNS

Morelos has not registered a league strike since September and has now gone six games in all competitions without finding the net.

The 24-year-old again cut a frustrated figure as he was replaced during Sunday's 2-1 win over Dundee United having missed a glorious chance to end his dry spell.

But Morelos has his manager's full backing, with Gerrard praising last season's top scorer for continuing to do his shift for the team even while his shooting sights are off.

"It's quite normal for players to have dips in confidence or form," said the Ibrox boss. “But what you do know is that it's only temporary and we know he'll bounce back. It won't be too long before he's scoring lots of goals and smiling even more than he is now.

"But I think one important thing to mention is that he's still doing a fantastic job for the team in terms of his hold-up play and the messages we're giving him, what he needs to do in and out of possession.

"So just because people on the outside don't see the goals raining in, it doesn't necessarily mean that we have the same feelings towards Alfredo.

"We've been really proud of what he's given this season. He's got a lot more team-mates who are capable of helping him in terms of the volume of goals that the team needs.

Morelos hit 26 goals by this point last season but so far this term he has only seven.

But Gerrard said: "We don't just analyse the goal return. We analyse how is Alfredo looking from a fitness point of vie w? What's his application like in training? Does he deserve to start? What's his hold-up play like?

"Is he doing the job for the team? is he counter-pressing? What's his movement like? How is he around the place?

"We analyse lots and lots of different areas before we make a decision on whether he should be in the team.

"I don't think it's fair to only judge a player on goal return. There's a lot more to it than that."

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